On the Train from Garden
by Xena Minotaur Girl
Summary: Since Rinoa joined their party, Zell has begun acting strangely and Squall, feeling that as ignoring this attitude isn't working, he should confront his teammate directly. [Just a little fluffy SquallZell] [Oneshot]


Okay, so recently I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy VIII lately, and have quickly been drawn into the Squall/Zell fandom n.n; I wrote this up as a rather late little birthday gift for my friend Rynie, who is the only other one I know who likes this pairing o.o; But yes, she just told me that as long as I wrote something with lotsa gay and boy angst she didn't really care what pairing it was so I hope this fits the bill. :D Happy Late Birthday Rynie!!

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Tension was rising in the group, and it didn't take a great deal of intelligence to notice this. Squall sighed intolerantly as he, followed by the martial artist and his former teacher, boarded the last train. The younger blonde simply leant against the wall and irritably stared out of the window to his left, casting his eyes over the barren landscape outside. The others would be here soon, and with them, _her_.

He carefully checked over their equipment, should he need to contact one of the others and instruct them to fetch last minute supplies on their way. The Gunblade wielder inwardly swore to himself in annoyance that he failed to think about getting his weapon upgraded beforehand. The blade's previously knife-like edge was becoming slowly blunt, and the shining steel blade now looked as dull as it's cutting edge, gaining the texture of an old rusty coin.

Hairs on the back of his neck prickled slightly as he felt a hot, penetrating gaze resting on him and Squall instinctively looked up in the relevant direction, only to have Zell turn away as quickly as he had previously glanced over. Not one to make the first move in a conversation, the brown-haired SEED took little notice, simply shrugging and returning to checking over his weapon.

What on earth was wrong with his teammate? The guy had been acting weirdly since that Rinoa had joined them, still, however annoying she was, he could not see quite why Zell was getting so bothered about it. Simply pretending to ignore the blonde's attitude, as was his initial plan, was obviously not working and maybe a direct confrontation was the only way to get to the root of whatever the issue was…

Shaking his head, the martial artist only glanced back over to Squall again when he was sure the other man was too deeply lost in his own thoughts to notice it. The Gunblade wielder's eyes were lowered as they darted over the said weapon's blade, his long and delicate dark eyelashes just shielding the azure orbs. Silky brown strands fell across his pale forehead, one of which Squall brushed quickly out of his eyes; it was almost as though he seemed self-conscious about them at just that moment, as if he knew the other man was looking over at him.

A slight expression of annoyance crossed over the brunette's face. Where on earth were those three? The rest of the group should have joined them by now… Zell watched as the young man crossed the carriage from his shadowy corner, heading to the open door to peer out. When, laughing and joking, the three abruptly burst in, nearly knocking their leader off his feet. Selphie rushed in first, followed by the brown-haired gun-user, and Rinoa bringing up the rear.

The Sharpshooter was certainly quite the lady's man, and appeared to know just how to get along well with the two girls; the pair certainly seemed in good spirits, and more uplifted than they had been since Squall's trio had last seen them, which was barely a few hours ago when they left the Garden with Irvine. The Gunblade-wielder envied that. Being so frequently distant and closed off from the others, it was no real surprise to anyone he had no idea about the right way to treat a woman, and the idea of being romantically involved with one? That was something he quite simply failed to comprehend.

"Thanks Squall!" Selphie giggled as she snatched the small train-ticket out of his hand and raced quickly into the corridor connected to the now somewhat cramped compartment. The young man simply nodded in a response, watching as Irvine followed after the young girl and silence fell over the carriage again. However, this wasn't to last.

Something suddenly weighed down on his arm and the brunette did not even need to look in that direction in order to realise that Rinoa had, as per routine, latched onto him. "Did you miss me, Squally?" she blinked up at him with that sickeningly cute look, causing said man to sigh in exasperation; a question of that nature did not even deserve an answer. What did need attention though, was the martial artist storming out of the room.

That was all of the ridiculous behaviour that Squall could take, and upon quickly detaching the young girl from his arm, muttering some sort of partially audible excuse, he left to catch up with his teammate. Finally making it to the row of seats in the next carriage, he stood over where Zell was sitting, folding his arms.

"What's with you? We don't have time for this, tell me straight," the brunette demanded, though as a response of an uncomfortable silence dawned over the pair, he shook his head. It was only when he attempted to repeat his question that the train leapt into life, jolting fiercely and knocking the Gunblade-wielder off his feet… causing him to land directly atop of his teammate.

If the first silence seemed uncomfortable, this one was quite a bit worse, and the fact that when they collided their lips nearly touched… well, that certainly did not help matters any. "S-Squall…" the blonde finally whispered, slightly startled by what had just happened, only to notice a fuming young woman at the door. "Rinoa! It's not what you think it is!" the martial artist blurted out. Just because he had recently been questioning his feelings towards the other SEED, he could not let her think they were together. After all, it didn't take much to notice the chemistry between Squall and the dark haired girl, and Zell couldn't let some accident break that apart.

Irritated by the events, the brunette got to his feet. "Squall! How could you?! Were your feelings for me a lie all this time?! Or were you just using me to get to him?!" the woman screamed, tears stinging in her eyes. 'Feelings for me'? the young man thought, 'I never had any. You just assumed I did because you liked me.' Of course, he had to make amends – clearly Rinoa was distraught, and their mission would never get done with this going on between them.

"Look, I'm not gay, I fell over. Stop making assumptions. Besides, even if I were that way inclined I wouldn't consider him for a relationship if he were the last man alive. Zell is my teammate, nothing more." Though that was pretty blunt, it was the only way to get the idea out of the black-haired girl's head. Luckily, she nodded, seeming satisfied and convinced by what was said, and she wiped her teary eyes on the back of her hand.

Zell got to his feet too. "Exactly. Stop being weird and all Rinoa, we're not like that." he backed up the Gunblade-wielder half-heartedly, shrugging. The brunette denying any relationship between them was expected, but still, did he have to be quite that blunt? The blow hit him, hard, and almost as from the aftermath of an actual impact, the blond felt a heavy, throbbing pain in his chest.

Rinoa had run to the other man, now, arms wrapping tightly around his waist. She seemed happy with the contact and affection, and though he couldn't see Squall's face from behind, the feeling was probably mutual, and he was probably content too. Zell's eyes stung, and he tore them from the couple, unable to continue looking at them. 'Besides, even if I were that way inclined I wouldn't consider him for a relationship if he were the last man alive', the brunette's words floated through his mind again. He felt slightly nauseous, and his throat began to hurt, too…

Why did those words depress him so much…? Maybe… maybe he really had fallen for his fellow SEED, but what good was that now? His teammate was happy with the girl and even if he didn't end up with her, it did prove one thing: Squall was straight.

The martial artist couldn't bring himself to say anything, his voice just refused to work without making a strange, choked sound of sorts. Of course, moving to leave would only draw attention to himself, and he couldn't let the Gunblade-wielder see him like this….

The couple broke apart as they exchanged a few words, well, Rinoa gave him a few while her partner simply nodded, before she took her leave. Zell's vision blurred as he swallowed harshly to hide a quite sob. He wanted to be anywhere but here, and he mentally cursed himself for allowing such a simple comment to cause him to cry so hopelessly like this, for probably the first time in his recent memory. In all honesty, he really felt pathetic and ashamed.

So, he had managed to finally sort Rinoa out, Squall thought to himself, that girl was more effort than she was worth, and if the group hadn't been instructed to baby-sit her until the mission was ov… the brunette's train of thought suddenly completely derailed as he turned back to his teammate. Zell was… crying? The man's normal sense of pride completely lost as it trickled down his cheeks in a steady flow of hot tears. Something was wrong. It was… almost unsettling… Sure, it was a given that the blonde had a tendency to over-react or act over-emotional over a lot of things, but… seeing him actually crying?

"Zell." genuinely concerned for the fellow SEED but not showing it, as per his style, he moved slowly over to him, only to have the other man grab his shoulders tightly, giving him a light shake.

"Don't say that kinda stuff, okay?! Just don't!"

"Listen. I simp"

"Please just don't say it!" the smaller man yelled through his tears as the realisation dawned on the brunette.

"Zell, do you…?" from the previous yelling, silence fell over them, like rain falling over a scorched landscape. Only the rumbling of the train could be heard now. Reaching over, Squall laid his hands on the other man's cheeks, moving the blonde's face to look at him while he gently wiped the tears with his thumbs.

Unsure whether his assumption was right, and seeing as the other man wasn't resisting the touch, Squall leant forward and brushed his lips past his teammate's, and it didn't take long before the smaller man responded. Zell's tongue slid slowly into the brown-haired Gunblade-wielder's mouth as the two moved closer together, Squall's arm wrapping gently around the other man's waist as they kissed.

"That is the lonely life of a Sharpshooter," Irvine was, meanwhile, discoursing the others, throwing his arms out dramatically to emphasise the tale. The young ex-teacher was steadily becoming worried. While the brown-haired man was entertaining Selphie and Rinoa, she couldn't help but wonder where the other two SEEDs had wondered off to.

Excusing herself politely and moving into the corridor, the blue eyes peered into the deserted next carriage. Well, deserted except for her two teammates, lost in each other's arms and lips. Sliding quietly back to avoid their notice, she smiled softly to herself. 'Well, at least they're happy.' Quistis thought absently as she took one last glance to her ex-students before moving back to re-join the others. Now only one question remained; just _how_ were they going to explain this to Rinoa?


End file.
